Thinking of switching auto insurance companies

I just switched from State Farm to The Hartford. State Farm raised prices, no tickets, no accidents, no changes to anything. I moved the umbrella policy to them as well, and broke up the bundle I had with State Farm. No BS I saved a bit over $1,400/ year for identical coverage. That money was probably going to two star football quarterbacks, and a coach. I left the homeowner's policy with State Farm because even after breaking the bundle and losing the discount the price was competitive, and I don't want all my eggs in one basket again. Familiarity breeds contempt with insurance companies, and rates should be shopped every couple of years, or at each rate increase.

I have 4 vehicles and 2 boats and a home insured with State Farm. If I switched the vehicles and saved $1400/year on them, I'd cut my rates by 70%. I seriously doubt I'm getting a 70% discount from another company on top of the discounts I get with State Farm....

And I have $300k in liability, $500 deduct on Collision.
 
Every year I go to my local independent insurance agent and get the best deal on both auto and home....It pays to shop around before your renewal date...
 
I have 4 vehicles and 2 boats and a home insured with State Farm. If I switched the vehicles and saved $1400/year on them, I'd cut my rates by 70%. I seriously doubt I'm getting a 70% discount from another company on top of the discounts I get with State Farm....

And I have $300k in liability, $500 deduct on Collision.
I'm glad it's working out that way for you. Keep in mind Atlanta and Long Island are two totally different markets. I joined AARP, got numerous ads from The Hartford, I ignored them. Then I got my State Farm renewal and they raised their rates, a lot. I called my agent and he said those were the rates, and gave me the obligatory great service pitch. I said to my wife I'll get a quote from The Hartford and a few others. The savings I posted are real., I expect an increase on my annual renewal, rates are going up across the nation. If The Hartford gets greedy I'll shop again. My allegiance is to my wallet, the insurance companies are not my friends. Stay with an insurance company too long and odds are eventually you'll be overpaying.
 
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I'm glad it's working out that way for you. Keep in mind Atlanta and Long Island are two totally different markets.


I honestly don't know WTH is wrong with the internet today...

I have lived other places than the Metro Atlanta area and Georgia... I expressed my experience across the 35 years I've been driving and using State Farm. Trust me, in my younger years, I would get a more mad quicker at companies. I certainly priced them out against others more when I was younger.
 
I honestly don't know WTH is wrong with the internet today...

I have lived other places than the Metro Atlanta area and Georgia... I expressed my experience across the 35 years I've been driving and using State Farm. Trust me, in my younger years, I would get a more mad quicker at companies. I certainly priced them out against others more when I was younger.
I have a few years on you, here's what I learned. Long story short familiarity breeds contempt when it comes to insurance companies. It pays to shop around, either prior to renewal, or when rates go up. I've saved a lot of money over the years that way. When I was younger I had less time, in my retirement I have more time to shop around if I desire to. With the State Farm prices they were looking for from me I can't help but think I was funding the sports celebrities doing their TV commercials.
 
I have a few years on you, here's what I learned. Long story short familiarity breeds contempt when it comes to insurance companies. It pays to shop around, either prior to renewal, or when rates go up. I've saved a lot of money over the years that way. When I was younger I had less time, in my retirement I have more time to shop around if I desire to. With the State Farm prices they were looking for from me I can't help but think I was funding the sports celebrities doing their TV commercials.

That progressive lady makes some serious bank.
 
Never hesitate changing Insurance companies. They don't care about you. I was with Safeco my whole adult life. They decided they didn't want to insure in my part of Virginia so they jacked up the rates. I thought my being with them almost 40 years meant something. They had my records and knew I was not a high risk driver or homeowner. Didn't matter. Recently I have been with Allstate for years but they were raising the rates every year. Being a national company, hurricanes in Fl affect your rates in the mid Atlantic. My agent hooked me up with a WV company that only operates in WV. I saved about $2k a year. My homeowners went down so much that I got a $600 check back from my escrow acct.. The company has operated for about 100 yrs.
 
I have 4 vehicles and 2 boats and a home insured with State Farm. If I switched the vehicles and saved $1400/year on them, I'd cut my rates by 70%. I seriously doubt I'm getting a 70% discount from another company on top of the discounts I get with State Farm....

And I have $300k in liability, $500 deduct on Collision.
There isnt any reason to "doubt">
You dont know because you have not got individual quotes on insurance from at least 3 other companies?
You are taking State Farms word that because they say they are giving you a "70%" discount as there is no cheaper company to buy insurance from and that is not true unless you can verify.

Chances are you can get homeowners cheaper elsewhere from another company, Car insurance cheaper from another company and boat insurance cheaper from another company without bundling them. Meaning three different companies.

We had extensive dealings including business insurance with State Farm in the past, I used to believe that discount garbage and that is what it turned out to be in our case = BS. Well over a decade ago I cut all ties to them and only kept the business insurance as it is a partnership and the rate is good.

As far as the cars and home, also now the boat and motorcycle I wouldn't touch State Farm as they can not compete in that area. I do not bundle anything, I switch companies on the fly any time of year, not just at renewal time. Just because I do not bundle doesnt mean sometimes I end up with two items at the best price form the same company.
Example is boat and motorcycle best price right now is progressive. Cars are now Costco insurance (precious was esurance) House just this year is Progressive, previous was Travelers.

Im quite sure in the last 15 years I never had the same homeowners insurance more then 3 or 4 years, car insurance most likely the same. Boat and Bike is the only company Progressive that always seems to be low and have had them a good number of years. At one point Geico was better but on the bike but no longer.

With the above said, it is impossible to compare rates across the USA, even across towns. But I can say without question that one does not know if they are getting a good price unless they check multiple sources every year.

BTW - $300,000 liability is not expensive it really should be $500,000 unless you have an umbrella policy. The cost difference is nothing.
Anyway, the key is to have that same amount of liability for uninsured and under insured drivers. It's something most people are way under insured on because it is by far the most expensive insurance in most areas and when people get quotes that $300,000 in liability that you may have, most likely doesnt include the same $300,000 on uninsured and underinsured drivers unless you watch for it. Which makes it even more hard to compared quotes because the public is clueless (not you by any means)

$300,000 in personal liability is worthless if someone with no insurance hits you or some one with $50,000 in liability hits you.
 
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Never hesitate changing Insurance companies. They don't care about you. I was with Safeco my whole adult life. They decided they didn't want to insure in my part of Virginia so they jacked up the rates. I thought my being with them almost 40 years meant something. They had my records and knew I was not a high risk driver or homeowner. Didn't matter. Recently I have been with Allstate for years but they were raising the rates every year. Being a national company, hurricanes in Fl affect your rates in the mid Atlantic. My agent hooked me up with a WV company that only operates in WV. I saved about $2k a year. My homeowners went down so much that I got a $600 check back from my escrow acct.. The company has operated for about 100 yrs.
Well said, everyone should know, the longer you are with an insurance company the higher rates you will pay because they know you wont leave and know you dont check other rates. They are in business to make money, extract as much as they can from your wallet. The are NOT your friend, they never will be. Of course in any industry some online firms can be more stable working on a different "profit model"

Also know EVERYONE has your insurance risk record. It's much like your credit score and your insurance score is shared among all companies so everyone knows you are not a high risk driver and puts you as a desirable customer. It's why comparing rates are becoming more easy than ever online. You put your address in with almost any online company and your vehicles show up!

I too found that out a long time ago about being loyal to a company, never again, low price rules. More in the post above this one. Countless other posts I posted in here over the years.
 
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When I pulled my credit report, I noticed that Progressive kept "dinging" me during my tenure with Geico.
Talk about “overreach” of power. Your insurance rates are partly based on your credit score. I saw USAA had dinged my credit scores so I called and asked why. I was told people with bad credit are statistically bad drivers. What???? So I mentioned my credit recently increased from 770 to 840 and I wanted my rates adjusted. The agent said it doesn’t work that way.
What if you got sick and fell behind on bills, or went through a crazy divorce? That has absolutely NO bearing on your ability to drive.
It’s almost criminal. Insurance companies have lawmakers in their back pockets…..it’s the only way they are getting away with this type of activity.
FYI, USAA just hit me with almost 20% increase this year. They told me it was because of a national increase. No tickets, no claims ever. I think it’s time to shop.
 
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Talk about “overreach” of power. Your insurance rates are partly based on your credit score. I saw USAA had dinged my credit scores so I called and asked why. I was told people with bad credit are statistically bad drivers. What???? So I mentioned my credit recently increased from 770 to 840 and I wanted my rates adjusted. The agent said it doesn’t work that way.
What if you got sick and fell behind on bills, or went through a crazy divorce? That has absolutely NO bearing on your ability to drive.
It’s almost criminal. Insurance companies have lawmakers in their back pockets…..it’s the only way they are getting away with this type of activity.
FYI, USAA just hit me with almost 20% increase this year. They told me it was because of a national increase. No tickets, no claims ever. I think it’s time to shop.

I agree, it's ridiculous that we let insurance look at credit score to determine rates while we joke about Chinese social score.
 
Progressive either lied or at best misled me that they don't use credit scores when factoring a policy... through the process of getting my quote on one of the pages I read Experian. I emailed my agent on Friday and said when my policy with Progressive was taking effect which was 12-11-2023, I just logged into my bank and they still charged my credit card for $119.91 which was a months payment so I'm hoping to receive it all back as my old policy should've ended Sunday night. With State Farm there is literally no way to cancel auto pay online, I can add or change the payment used but once you sign up for it you have to contact the agent for them to do it, I forgot to mention turning that off and only told her to cancel my policy.... worst case is Progressive offered to mail a letter on my behalf to them cancelling my policy and returning any funds back to me which honestly will take awhile.

For a 6 month policy State Farm wanted for my 3 vehicles: $241.08, $246.96, $234.97, Progressive is $117, $115, $121 for the exact same coverages so it's not even half the cost.
 
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Finally received the reimbursement from State Farm which took almost a month but they show the cancellation date of Dec. 12th but should've expired on the 10th. I emailed my agent which I feel is a lost cause. It's not really about the few extra dollars they got from me but just the principle of it when they shouldn't have billed me anyways for the next month when I reached out to cancel beforehand so it wouldn't renew.

Also received another letter from them about underinsured coverage which they said that VA now requires it and they will be adding those limits to the motorcycle policy but that I can change the amounts or provide in writing to opt out but that I'd have to contact my agent... I don't understand how first they tell me that the state is now requiring it but that I can choose to opt out. From what I've read online the underinsured works exactly like gap insurance and it covers the difference so if someone else is at fault that only has $20k in coverage but you have $30k in damages then the remaining $10k from your policy covers the rest.
 
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The theme here with long time loyal customers is you don’t get any “loyalty” rates for sticking with one insurance company. As a matter of fact, I was stupidly with Nationwide for 40 years, got better quotes elsewhere, and gave Nationwide the chance to at least match the quote(s). They wouldn’t do it. I told them I was canceling and the long time representative said “Bye”…
The only way to keep a reasonable insurance premium cost is to change as often as need be. Loyalty in this racket means nothing.
 
The theme here with long time loyal customers is you don’t get any “loyalty” rates for sticking with one insurance company. As a matter of fact, I was stupidly with Nationwide for 40 years, got better quotes elsewhere, and gave Nationwide the chance to at least match the quote(s). They wouldn’t do it. I told them I was canceling and the long time representative said “Bye”…
The only way to keep a reasonable insurance premium cost is to change as often as need be. Loyalty in this racket means nothing.
I agree, funny thing is Nationwide has always been high in this area too, I have a friend who actually deals with them and says that no-one even comes close to his rates. The motorcycle renews in March so I'll be getting a quote with Progressive about mid Feb. but last year State Farm cut them over half. I can already see with VA ending the uninsured motorist coverage that people are going to be choosing the lowest limits possible.
 
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